Focus on aframaxes -Part 1

Published:

14 November 2003 02:59

Updated:

06 February 2012 09:22

Johan G. Olsen has issued its aframax fleet list, which not only lists the ships, but also the employment of the ships and the charterer. The publication lists 637 existing ships (including 32 OBOs) and 141 newbuildings. Oil majors or state-owned companies own 138 of the existing and orderbook ships and in addition they control 89 tankers which are on contract to 2005 and beyond. This means that some 82% of the aframaxes are owned by independent owners, including 107 aframaxes on order (of which 14 are fixed for 2004 and beyond).

The four oil majors, BPAmoco, ChevronTexaco, ExxonMobil and Shell, have a total fleet of 37 aframaxes, with 16 on period charter until 2005 or later. BPAmoco has 14 aframaxes on order, 10 from Samsung and 4 from Tsuneishi.

The biggest aframax owner is clearly Teekay with 51 aframaxes, including 2 OBOS, 3 FSOs and 3 bareboated or leased in, plus 9 newbuildings on order. Just 5 of the Teekay ships are, according to the report, on long-term contracts. Only half Teekay’s fleet (25 units) have double hulls and 9 have double sides.

The 2nd biggest operator is Malaysian International shipping (Petronas)/American Eagle with 33 aframaxes plus 4 newbuildings. Almost all (29) have double hulls and 2 have double sides. 4 are on period contracts to Emerald.

General Maritime Corp (Genmar) is the 3rd biggest operator in this market with 26 aframaxes, Only 7 have double hulls and 10 have double sides or bottom. 4 are on period contracts.

In addition there are some 11 owners with 10-15 tankers each, totalling 130 ships plus 16 newbuildings. This means that the 15 owners with 10 tankers or more have a 39% market share. The remaining 615 are split between some 140 owners.

The aframax fleet has a fairly even age distribution band, except for a smaller peak (45 units) in 2000/2001 and another massive peak occurring this year when almost 80 aframaxes will be delivered.